The present invention relates generally to semiconductor device processing techniques, and, more particularly, to a method and structure for improving CMOS device reliability by forming a self-aligned, dual stress liner (SDSL).
Hot carrier effects in metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET) devices are caused by high electric fields at the end of the channel, near the source/drain diffusion regions. More specifically, electrons that acquire great energy when passing through the high-field region can generate electron-hole pairs due to, for example, impact ionization, thus resulting in high gate leakage and early gate oxide breakdown by injecting hot carriers through the gate oxide to the gate material. As a further result, there is also a net negative charge density in the gate dielectric. The trapped charge accumulates with time, resulting in a positive threshold shift in the NMOS transistor, or a negative threshold shift in a PMOS transistor.
Since hot electrons are more mobile than hot holes, hot carrier effects cause a greater threshold skew in NMOS transistors than in PMOS transistors. Nonetheless, a PMOS transistor will still undergo negative threshold skew if its effective channel length (Leff) is less than, for example, 0.8 microns (μm). Thin gate oxides by today's standards (e.g., less than 1.5 nanometers) tend to be less sensitive to hot carrier degradation, as the hot carrier can readily tunnel through a thin gate oxide. On the other hand, thicker gate oxide devices (e.g., more than 1.5 nanometers) are more vulnerable to hot carrier degradation, due to the fact that the hot carriers tend to accumulate in the oxide over time. Thus, for certain application specific integrated circuits such as input/output circuitry, there may be some devices on a single chip that are formed with thicker gate oxides with respect to other devices on the chip (e.g., logic or analog circuit transistors).
Existing approaches to reducing the effects of hot carrier degradation include the addition of impurities such as nitrogen, fluorine and chlorine to the gate oxide. However, the addition of impurities can be less effective for thicker gate oxides since the impurities (such as nitrogen) tend to be localized at the surface of the film. Moreover, the direct nitridation of a gate oxide can also be accompanied by unwanted effects, such as degradation of electron mobility.
Another technique that has been disclosed for improving device life due to hot carrier effects is the use of deuterium anneals. By substituting deuterium for hydrogen at the standard interface passivation anneal step, the lifetime of an NFET device can be improved by a factor of about 10-100. However, the deuterium anneal has to be performed at a sufficiently high temperature (e.g., over 500° C.) to be effective, which may cause dopant deactivation resulting in device degradation. Additional information regarding deuterium anneals may be found in the publication of Thomas G. Ference, et al., “The Combined Effects of Deuterium Anneals and Deuterated Barrier-Nitride Processing on Hot-Electron Degradation in MOSFET's,” IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices, Vol. 46, No. 4, April, 1999, pp. 747-753. Again, however, this technique is also generally applied to thinner gate oxides.
More recently, dual liner techniques have been introduced in order to provide different stresses in P-type MOS devices with respect to N-type MOS devices. For example, a nitride liner of a first type is formed over PFETs of a CMOS device, while a nitride liner of a second type is formed over the NFETs of the CMOS device. More specifically, it has been discovered that the application of a compressive stress in a PFET channel improves carrier mobility therein, while the application of a tensile stress in an NFET channel improves carrier mobility therein. Thus, the first type nitride liner over the PFET devices is formed in a manner so as to achieve a compressive stress, while the first type nitride liner over the PFET devices is formed in a manner so as to achieve a compressive stress.
For such CMOS devices employing dual liners, the conventional approach has been to form the two different nitrides using separate lithographic patterning steps. In other words, for example, the first type nitride liner is formed over both PFET and NFET devices, with the portions of the first type nitride liner over the NFET devices being thereafter patterned and removed. After an optional formation of an oxide layer, the second type nitride liner is formed over both regions, with a second patterning step being used to subsequently remove the portions of the second type nitride liner over the PFET devices. Unfortunately, due to inherent inaccuracies associated with aligning lithographic levels to previous levels, the formation of the two liners could result in a gap or underlap therebetween. In particular, this gap will cause problems for subsequent etching of holes for metal contact vias since, during the etching, the silicide in the underlap/gap areas will be over etched. This in turn will increase sheet resistance of the silicide.
On the other hand, the two liners could also be formed in a manner such that one liner overlaps the other. In fact, the reticles used for the two separate patterning steps are typically designed to ensure an overlap such that there is no gap between the two liner materials. However, having certain regions with overlapping nitride liners creates other problems with subsequent processing due to issues such as reliability and layout inefficiencies. For example, a reactive ion etch (RIE) process for subsequent contact formation may have to accommodate for a single-thickness liner in some areas of the circuit, while also accommodating for a double-thickness (overlapping) liner in the interface areas. Moreover, if such overlapping areas are excluded from contact formation, a restriction results in terms of available layout area and critical dimension (CD) tolerances. The overlap will also cause problems during subsequent etching of holes for metal contact vias since, during the etching, all of silicide will be over etched except for the silicide under the overlap areas. This can increase sheet resistance and junction leakage of devices.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to be able to implement the formation of a dual liner CMOS device in a self-aligned manner that does not result in a gap between different liner types and/or an overlap thereof.